HUD Launches Partnership Website

In his first directive on transparency and open government, President Obama said, “Openness will strengthen our democracy and promote efficiency and effectiveness in Government.  Government should be collaborative.  Collaboration actively engages Americans in the work of their Government. Executive departments and agencies should use innovative tools, methods, and systems to cooperate among themselves, across all levels of Government, and with nonprofit organizations, businesses, and individuals in the private sector.”

That’s why the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) just launched a new web tool that features – for the first time – contact information and proposal details for the highest-scoring applicants to HUD’s community development initiatives.  HUD designed partner.hud.gov  to boost public-private partnership and philanthropic support for the most promising plans for turning the nation’s distressed communities into viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods linked to good schools, retail, transportation, and access to jobs. 

As it builds out, partner.hud.gov will feature various partnering programs and opportunities.    It initially focuses on Choice Neighborhoods planning and Implementation grantees.  What’s unique is you can also see the high-scoring runners up from each competition.   An obvious choice for the website, “Choice Neighborhoods grants transform distressed neighborhoods and public and assisted projects into viable and sustainable mixed-income neighborhoods by linking housing improvements with appropriate services, schools, public assets, transportation, and access to jobs. “

The website provides information funders and other local stakeholders can use to find and support applications that HUD deemed promising, but was unable to fund as well as grantees eager to attract additional resources to their transformation plans. The grant projects all are designed to yield measureable results.   Over time, partner.hud.gov will grow as more grant programs take advantage of this capability.

The website will also offer communities greater access to work happening around the country and best-practice models that might help shape their efforts.  It provides a not-to-be-overlooked link to the HUD User portal.  HUD User is a clearinghouse for housing, community development, and sustainable communities research and data. 

The projects you find on partner.hud.gov could be CSR donation or investment opportunities for your company. Each of the runners up projects is an opportunity in waiting.  All of the funded projects could benefit from expanded resources.  All thirty-one of the Choice Neighborhoods projects, from Boston to Seattle and Albany GA to San Antonio, have partners that are nonprofit organizations and/or foundations.  You may already be working with some of them.  Take a look to see how this may fit into your CSR program.